mirror, mirror
by corkchop
Summary: it can be hard to be a murderer, especially when they come back to haunt you.


_Mirrors_

Within a desolate fairground stood a disheveled figure. The grimy rats half-starved scattered at the sight of him, no matter how inhumane he looked of. Jonah Wizard, Janus branch, trudged through the hailstone shower oblivious to the world around him. It had seemed unreal that it had been a mere two months since he had stopped dogging his mother`s footsteps and following her command—to eliminate the Cahill family, roots and all. He had held at gunpoint, drowned, tortured, exploded, and throttled all the Cahills in cold blood.

He was a killer.  
All of his lifetime he pursued a dream—prove himself to the Janus branch, and his mother. He hopped to it to everything that was told of him. Become the top rapper. Craft a bestselling pop-up book. And finally extract the Cahills.

_Oops._

The first time he failed ending Dan Cahills life ended badly, only managed to annihilate a couple dozen musty old terracotta warriors. He didn`t want to face failure again—or his mother`s wrath. So he killed. Emerging from the perilous daydream groggily, he took in his surroundings and noticed the trash-bejeweled mud road. He sifted his scuffed beyond repair shoes through the muck.

_No need for bling. No need for rhinestones. No need for fancy._

In horror, he had left the Janus stronghold terrified of what he had committed himself to. But it was too late; the deeds were already carried out. Presently he was homeless and starving. He probably looked like those scruffy beggars in San Francisco. He liked it that way.

Tilting his hollow face up, he noticed a non-collapsed structure a couple feet ahead that looked stable enough. It had a worn sign that read, "Hall of Mirrors". Shelter meant escape from hail and wind. And rest if he could clear his mind. Subconsciously, he raised his left wrist to check the time. His watch, custom made in Italy and one of a kind, like himself, or once so he thought, was broken. He too was broken. Ever since he became a murderer.

The forlorn rapper swept aside the spider-webbed drapery and stepped afoot into the Hall Of Mirrors.

"Wow" He whispered, his voice crackly like sandpaper from lack of use.

There were mirrors decorated wall-to-wall. Big mirrors, small mirrors, wavy mirrors, squat, they were all there. But unlike all the other attractions, they had not fallen into a state of disrepair. Not a single mirror was chipped; all were smooth and glistening as the silvery moonlight reflected of them. He sighed morosely, and braced himself for his reflection.

He was not there.

Gasping, he waved his hand around it in hoped of normality. Everything else appeared around him, the other mirrors.

"We have been waiting a long time." Cooed a feminine voice that echoed all around the room.

"So we have, my dearest cousin." Replied another, cackling madly.

Jonah backed up, his mouth shaped as an "O" in a silent scream of horror.

Everyone was there. All the Cahills. Amy`s image appeared smiling grotesquely with dried crimson blood plastering her auburn hair to her face.

"It`s good to see you, Jonah." Chuckled another.

Dan appeared in a flash of light to the mirror to the left wing of Amy`s, his head hanging by a sinewy thread on the neck. The eyes, normally a shade of jade, pooled a dancing fire. All around the room, figures altered horribly by physical injuries and the mirrors themselves, popped up grinning gruesomely.

Ted and Ned winked with their good eyes, because the others had looked to have been carved out with a sharp blade. "Funny how family—"

Ned continued, "Always seems to find each other even in the queerest of locations."

"You know," Sinead added from behind," When you killed us, you deprived the world of great minds."

Jonah yelped and scurried toward the center of the room. He stared at the mirrors all around him in raw horror. This couldn`t be happening, he thought desperately. He held the position of frightened prey, ready to run for his life any moment.

Ian grinned, his handsome features ruined by what seemed to be the product of a mauling of a dog. "We, being members of the family decided that it would be gracious to return the favor you bestowed upon us all."

"Nooo!" Jonah wailed, trying to escape the room.

"You cannot escape us," Cackled Natalie, "All we ask of is vengeance."

"Vengeance? "He croaked.

All the Cahills filtered through the mirrors in a gaseous form, and circled him, laughing wildly.

Reagan reached out, cooing teasingly, "Come, come Jonah! I most certainly promise you that it will hurt."

They circled in on him, and locked on their hands with alien strength.

"Join us!"

He suddenly had the vague vision of ring-around-the-rosy. He stopped thrashing wildly and remained silent.

"Nothing I can do, is there?" He laughed softly as they pulled him into the mirrors, disappearing from the world forever.

As he left, the mirrors shattered, finally, everything was at peace.


End file.
